Kendra Cocksedge

BIOGRAPHY

ORIGINALLY FROM New Plymouth, Kendra Cocksedge is very much a Cantabrian for her rugby, but the whole country is happy to claim her as one of the leading players in the world game.

She was first recognised in 2006 with selection for the Taranaki and Hurricanes Schools, where her resourceful, intuitive halfback play, allround skills and goalkicking (and dropkicking) ability first came to the fore.  

Among her many gongs. Cocksedge was awarded World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year in 2015, the same season she was named New Zealand Rugby Women’s Player of the Year, mainly for her sterling displays in the Women’s Super Series in Canada. 

In 2018, she was the Fiao’o Faamausili Medal winner for her superb form for Canterbury in the Farah Palmer Cup, picked up her second New Zealand Rugby Women’s Player of the Year award and broke through the glass ceiling to be the first female recipient of the Kelvin Tremain Memorial Trophy as the top player in the New Zealand game. In all, she scored 13 tries and a record 173 points in 13 first-class games that season.

Since debuting for the Black Ferns in 2007 as a teenager, Cocksedge has gone on to win two  Rugby World Cups, in 2010 and 2017, as well as clinching a Rugby World Cup Sevens crown in 2013, playing three tournaments in all for the Black Ferns Sevens. 

In 2019, she captained the Black Ferns for the first time against France.

In the 2022 Pacific Four Series against the Wallaroos in Tauranga, Cocksedge became the most capped Black Fern. Playing her 58th Test match.

Cocksedge retired from Test rugby as the most-capped Black Fern of all-time following the team's 34-31 victory over England in the Rugby World Cup final.